Vending device.



B. HAIR.

VENDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 19.1914.

Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

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lot is disposed of.

BENJAMIN M. HAIR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.-

VENDING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

Application filed February 19, 1914. Scria1No.'819,630.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN M. HAIR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vending Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device particularly intended for vending small packages such for example as yeast.

Yeast is usually sold in small packages, weighing about two and three-quarter ounces, inclosed in a paper wrapper and packed usually in boxes and heretofore generally sold from the box or the packages are stacked on a shelf. The perishable nature of yeast and the price at which the parcels are sold make it desirable that they maybe quickly handled and delivered and it is the object of my invention to provide a vending device which is particularly applicable for the vending of small packets or parcels of this kind which have consider able weight.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a device of the character described which will cause the packages to be sold in the order in which they are placed in the device so that no opportunity is'given for one or more packages of one lot of goods to remain unsold while a newer and fresher The oldest goods are thus always sold first.

It is also an object of my invention to provide a vending device in which the packages can be exposed to view, thereby securing the advantage of exhibitionyand advertisement.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a vending device of such form and capacity as to hold a considerable number of relatively heavy packages in a compact form with the front of the wrappers exposed and which shall be convenient in use, the device having provisions whereby the weight of .the column of packages is partly sustained from the device itself, thereby making the removal of the lower package of the column easy.

\Vith these and other desirable objects in mind I have provided a vending device comprising a container preferably made of metal and of trough-like form with guide flanges or lips at the open side and adapted to be supported in vertical position and to contain a considerable number of superposed packages which may be charged into the container through an open top, the column being supported partly upon a delivery shelf is a perspective view of the container; Fig. 2

is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig.1, and Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section.

The container is preferably made of a single sheet of metal bent to provide a boxlike structure having a rear wall 4: and side walls 5 with integral inturned lips 6 and with inwardly turned bottom lips 7, which are re-turned or bent into hook shape to receive an attaching plate 8 having members 9 which interlockwith the inturned lips 7 and afford a shelf or support for the column of packages which are shown at 10. These packages, as above stated, may have considerable weight and since it is desirable to support a large'number of them in the same container and the total weight thereof would make the extraction of the bottom package rather difficult, I may employ some elastic sustaining means afiixed to the inte-- rior walls of the container. As shown on the drawings these sustaining means comprise leaf springs which may be aiiixed to the side walls behind the lips and for this purpose the. side walls may be offset, as shown at 11, and the base 12 of the leaf spring 13 riveted within this recessed or "offset portion.

The particular form of the spring is unimportant, but I have shown the blade thereof curved or bent, as at 14, at different points of its length in order to give it support upon the wall of. the container and make it effective upon each of the packages below the base of the spring. It will not be necessary to have the spring extend through the length of the container and the stiffness of the spring will, of course, be proportioned to the weight of the articles to be supported. These springs may be duplicated, as indicated .in Fig. 1 or a single leaf spring oifset as shown at 14 may be employed. By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that when the last package is removed the upper packages will be supported by the springs or if not upheld a portion of their weight will at least be taken off from the bottom package.

It will be manifest that the form of device described provides cfiicient and prominent .of the device permits the labels carried by the packages themselves to stand out prominently and thus themselves advertise the contents of the packages.

' If desired, the labels may be reproduced on the wall behind the packages so that when the trough is empty or nearly empty the reproductions of these labels on this wall will provide the advertising provided by the" packages when the device is loaded to its maximum capacity.

Inasmuch as the packages placed in the device are always selected from the bottom for sale they follow each other in natural rotation, being fed continuously in at the top and taken out at the bottom. This arrangement insures the sale of all of. the goods of one lot before any of the goods of the next succeeding lot may be sold and insures, also, that the oldest goods are always sold first and reduces thereby materially any danger of spoiling the yeast by overlooking it in handling. 1 It will be understood that the specific construction above described, while preferred, may be varied particularly as to the dimensions and form of the parts.

The device is intended to be supported in a vertical position and may, if convenient, be suspended on the parting strip between 'fianges at the fronts of the side walls, the

space between the flanges being open to expose the contents of the device, and the side walls being provided with depressions in their inner faces, and leaf springs extending longitudinally within the device adjacent the side walls thereof, each spring having one end free and its other end offset and secured within one of the depressions, substantially as and for the purpose described. 2. A display and vending device having a back, opposite side walls, inwardly-directed flanges at the fronts of the side walls, the space between the flanges being open to expose the contents of the device, and the side walls being provided with depressions in their inner faces, and leaf springs extending longitudinally within the device adjacent the side walls thereof, each spring having one end free and its other end offset and secured within one of the depressions, intermediate portions of the springs having projections bent therein to bear against the respective sidewalls, substantially as and for the purpose described.

BENJAMIN M. HAIR. WVitnesses: JOHN P. AHnnNs, T. D. BUTLER. 

